TV star ‘Grizzly Adams' Dan Haggerty dead at age 74

Media General Contributors - (KRON) - Dan Haggerty, the actor who played TV's popular bushy bearded mountain man "Grizzly Adams" in the '70s hit show "The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams," has died, reports say.

Haggerty was 74.

Multiple industry reporters say he had been battling cancer since July. Citing sources, Hollywood news site TMZ is reporting that doctors discovered the cancer after he had surgery for back pain.

Haggerty was getting treatment in a hospital until recently when doctors told him the end was near and his son told close friends and family to come visit over the last few days before he passed," TMZ reported.

According to his profile page on IMDB.com, Haggerty was a Muscle Beach bodybuilder in the early sixties and worked as an animal trainer and stuntman.

In the "Grizzly Adams" show, his character lived in the woods after he was wrongly accused of murder and adopted a grizzly cub which he named "Ben." The series ran for two seasons.